Changes made to Charity Commission Annual Return

Under the new annual return regime, registered charities will be obliged to provide additional key information to the Commission including:

Whether the charity pays its trustees;

Whether the charity is a member of the Fundraising Standards Board;

Whether the charity has written risk, investment, safeguarding and conflicts of interest policies;

Whether the charity has a trading subsidiary; and

Whether the charity raises funds from the public and whether they work with a commercial participator.

Charities will also be encouraged to provide detailed information regarding their aims and achievements for the year.

The Summary Information Return will, however, be abolished as recommended by Lord Hodgson.

The Commission has also stated that it intends to publish further information on the online register of charities which it considers of interest to the public. Information about various issues including trading subsidiaries, commercial participators and written policies will be displayed online. The Commission will also display information it has been collecting historically such as information about whether a charity was formed from a merger, or whether a charitable company has been set up to receive the assets of an unincorporated charity.